Whilst they have not become popular in production automobiles, the concept of “virtual footrests”, i.e. a pedal acting as a footrest during cruise control has been in the public domain for some time. For example, EP 2 384 921 B1 (Volvo Car Corporation) published in 2012 proposes a pedal device for a vehicle. The pedal device comprises a pedal adapted to be depressed by a driver by means of a force, and a restriction means adapted to restrict the displacement of the pedal in the depression direction. When the vehicle is in a cruise control mode, the restriction means is adapted to retain the pedal in a rest position when the pedal is subjected to a force less than or equal to a predetermined first threshold value and thereby act as a footrest. The restriction means is further adapted to allow depressing of the pedal away from the rest position when the pedal is subjected to a force greater than the first threshold value; i.e. a driver can push through the footrest position to accelerate. The pedal device is arranged such that after having exceeded the first threshold value, the force required to depress the pedal reduces gradually as a function of further displacement for at least a part of the further displacement.
The inventors posit that the reason this technology has not reached the market may be because of its unfamiliarity to drivers and perhaps potential confusion as to whether the footrest mode is activated, or not and/or difficulty in accurately controlling the speed of the vehicle when pushing through the footrest mode.
The present invention therefore seeks to provide an improved “virtual footrest”.